To get to the finish line, you must be delusional optimist.
They say hardware is hard. They say building a startup is hard. But building a hardware startup is astronomically hard and painful. It was way harder than I ever imagined.
I started with the wrong assumption that it gets easier as I go. It doesn’t. It gets harder. More components. More features to test. More things that can go wrong. Magnitudes higher cost of a mistake. More people to communicate with and make happy. More expectations. More obligations. It’s like a video game: the better you get, the harder it gets. Not easier!
That’s why one must have confidence in themselves on a delusional level. To be confident that “NO MATTER WHAT, I WILL FIGURE IT OUT.” The most popular phrase I used was “It will be fine.” I'm naturally very optimistic person. And that optimism carried me through hopeless moments.
But it’s not enough to believe in yourself and be optimistic. You must be 10000% committed to your idea and the goal. An inhumane level of commitment. Essentially, be a single-minded terminator that doesn’t take No for an answer. See problems on the way as temporary obstacles that can be avoided/moved/crashed.
I sometimes look at photos of my naive face when I just started and think, “Bless him; he has no idea what meat grinder awaits him ahead, and thank God.” I remember how the feeling of excitement in the beginning slowly started to be tested by a constant barrage of setbacks, difficulties, constraints, and unexpected issues. It got to the point when I got used to the feeling of pain from all the moving parts.
I had to invent my own mental programming and coping mechanism. After a day of work every day for months, I was walking around the factories in the Shenzhen industrial zone, where I lived not far away, and was programming myself while listening to the OST of Mission Impossible on repeat. It was a form of meditation. I was visualizing the end result, and it helped me to digest the daily dose of pain and recharge for the next day's battle.
A delusional level of self-belief, and optimism, combined with a commitment to achieve the goal no matter what and put in the work required, can achieve the “impossible.” That’s a mentality that is vital if you want to make it to the happy end!
Are you confident that you will figure out whatever comes your way?
Are you committed to building what you want no matter how painful it will be?
If the answer is yes to both questions, what are you waiting for? Start the adventure!
I Want to Hear from You
What's the biggest challenge you've faced in turning your idea into a product? Any specific topics you want to learn more about? Let's get the conversation started.
